At the age of 15, with his first drink, Tommy took the road to alcoholism. He drank through high school, and then through Dartmouth. Drink destroyed his first marriage. His wife took their money, and their kids, and ran. Being alone gave him more drinking time. He smashed up cars regularly. One year, his car insurance paid out $70,000. Ouch. He kept losing jobs on his way down until, nearing his bottom, he cracked up a forklift and got fired. After that, first thing in the morning, every morning, he'd drink and drink, until he passed out.

He wanted to quit but couldn't. He hadn’t hit bottom. Angry, lonely, and tired, he tried killing himself by drinking 20 gallons of vodka in one month. A trip to New Hampshire to see his kids pushed him to his knees. With a blood alcohol level of .495 percent, Tommy entered ten days of de-tox hell in an ICU hospital unit, followed by 6 weeks in a recovery center.

When I saw him a couple years ago, I thought, “Here comes trouble,” but he had changed. Instead of being too skinny, with rheumy eyes, he was a fit 180, with clear eyes and sober speech. Tommy just marked five years of sobriety. I asked how he did it. He said, “I went to A.A. and asked God to lift my obsession, and God did."

Let's Pray: Dear HP, we’re grateful, just plain grateful, for letting us hit bottom, and going low enough so that surrendering to You is our only hope. Amen.